Fix what's broken
by Instahoe
Summary: Santana is living on borrowed time. Brittany wants a divorce, but their relationship be salvaged from the ash that remains? -NEW AND IMPROVED-
1. Chapter 1

"And then, Michael said he would take us out on his boat Mami!" The little 7 year old brunette yelled happily from the back of the white Hummer. Santana broke eye contact with the road for a second to catch a glimpse of the little boy who was securely strapped into the back seat of the car. His little legs swinging happily with no intention of touching the floor anytime soon. Santana was more than aware that boys grow fast so she couldn't help the little smile that grew on her as she remembered that her baby boy was _still_ just that.

"Well that's great." Santana replied with anything but enthusiasm, returning her eyes to the street lined with parked cars and stared glumly out of the window trying her hardest to focus on the road and not get angry at the mention of the mans name.

"Me _and_ Covin!" He exclaimed in delight. "And then we're going scuba diving! He's going to teach us" The young boy sighed in awe before eagerly nudging the blonde slouched into the window beside him. "Isn't Michael _awesome_ Cov?"

"Shut up Asher!" Covin snapped. "_Michael_ is an ass." Covin was 11 years old and learned new words at an incredibly quick rate. Both Brittany and Santana had been very careful about their choice of language around the two boys, but over recent months, their high standards had fallen into a state of decay. And Covin's ears had noticed. His language and short temper also probably had a lot to do with his genes, all traits, good or bad, that he had inherited from his Mami, but he was a lot more complex than she was at that young age. Santana always considered herself to be a purely bad person but that was something that Covin certainly was _not_. Whilst a lot of his behavoiur probably was due to the DNA that he had been handed, Santana firmly believed that Brittany, whilst not being biologically related to him, had a huge influence on his personality. Underneath his feisty tanned skin, Covin was thoughtful, caring, sweet and a general pleasure to be around. Unlike herself as of late.

Whilst Santana did agree with what Covin had said;_ Michael was an ass. _She still didn't condone swearing in any context from the boys and made sure to firmly scold him. Respect was a bit part of the Lopez-Pierce household and despite the fact that a lot of it had gone of the window over the recent weeks, Santana was determined that under her roof, it would remain.

"Sorry Mami." he said sadly looking at the ground for a second before raising his eyes to meet them in the mirror, "But you know it's true."

"Irrelevant Covin. You do _not_ speak like that." Santana added firmly as she pulled up outside the average sized suburban house. She glared at the front door, knowing that any second now it would swing open and reveal her worst nightmare. She was shaken from her thoughts when she heard the back seat buckle pop open and the smaller boy at the back planting a quick kiss of the cheek before sprinting up to the front door. Probably eager to see _them. _

Covin however was a lot more reluctant to leave. "Mamiiiii," the boy pleaded helplessly. "Can't I stay with with you?" he put on best pout and Santana always found it hard to say no to the blonde, especially when he wore the pout he had learned so well that made him look just like Brittany. Santana could remember the time when the Mother and son would sit for hours and the blonde woman would basically teacher the older boy how to get what he wanted from Santana. It all came down to a pout. One that Brittany had perfected before passing it on through much hard work to their oldest child.

"Covin, baby you know you need to go see your Mom. I'll pick you up Friday." Santana hated seeing her son upset, Asher didn't seem to have a problem with it at all. But Covin was very different to his little brother. It wasn't that he didn't want to see his Mother, because he did, he did a lot actually. It was somebody else that he was trying to avoid;_ Michael._

"But...but today is _Monday_." Covin spoke in a hushed voice.

"Yes, Covin. Today is Monday."

"5 days." Covin said sadly before turning to look at the house through the tinted windows. "I have to stay _there _for 5 days?"

"Yes." Santana spoke firmly. It broke her heart to see the boy like that and she knew she needed to get him out of the car before she caved in and drove the boy back to her own house. "Now come on Covin, I'm going to be late."

Covin slowly grabbed his bag and slowly as he possibly could, climbed out of the car and began to walk to the front door. Giving a hopeful glance back in the direction of his Mami, waiting for her to offer him the chance to go back to the house. When Santana called out his name, he raced back to the car with an eager smile and reached for the door handle.

"Would you..." she leaned forwards and grabbed a very thick bundle of papers that we're untidily stapled from her briefcase on the seat beside her and handed it through the window to her oldest. "Give that to your Mom?"

Covin was devastated. His face dropped and his eyes did all they could to stop themselves drowning in it's own salty water. He didn't want to spend a week there! Michael was a complete tool. In Covin's eyes, he was the douche bag that broke up his family and he was angry how Asher could seemingly forget that with a few promises of treats. He understood that the boy was young, naive and impressionable but still he was beginning to resent the little brother that he loved so much. It teared him apart from the inside out to know that his oh so loyal little brother was no more. Still, he begrudgingly took the file and marched up to the front door. Only to find the Devil himself waiting there.

"Hey buddy!" Michael said playfully with his hand up, clearly expecting a high five. Covin wasn't going to give him one..._ever_.

Covin stopped in the doorway and slowly scanned Michael from head to toe. Well, toe to head because Michael and pretty tall and Covin often had a hard time finding where the mans legs ended and torso began. He was the average worker, just what you would except from an office accountant. He was a tall and scrawny looking man and with such a narrow waist that his belt struggled to do its job. Clothing choice was truly appaulling and Covin was surprised how the man managed to function since he was a walking wardrobe malfunction. He had dark, greyish plaid trousers pulled up past his bellybutton with a scruffy and stained white shirt tucked it; with the bottom of the shirt sticking out of his undone zipper and a typical black tie that hung loosely around his neck. A beard that was barely trimmed and no doubt meant to look like that designer stubble those fancy men in the magazines had, it didn't quite work for the accountant though. Neither did his thick rimmed glasses or greasily slick looking hairdo.

It was clear that since it were around 8;00am, the man was getting ready for work but that was no excuse for him looking silly if you had asked Covin. By all standards other than his, the man was actually quite attractive. He had short, light brown hair that given it was windy day, would have blown effortlessly and rather elegantly too. Dark green eyes that would shimmer if the light were to him them right and cute undersized ears that didn't quite match the proportion of his face. Under and other circumstance, Covin would have said he was a fairly normal and slightly better than averagly attractive man, but no. He wasn't. He was the stepdad from hell that had brought his family life crumbling down around him and Covin hated him with a burning passion that only increased. He ignored the high five request and shoulder barged his way past the man who then leaned down to rub his now hurting thigh. Santana noticed the exchange and smiled at the boys behaviour but also made a mental note that she needed to deal with the rising tension before she drove away.

Covin strolled into the kitchen with complete disregard for the time. He and Asher should be leaving for school about now, but whatever. He slammed down his bag on the counter.

"Hey baby!" Brittany yelled in delight, she hadn't seen either of the boys all weekend and Asher was probably off playing games somewhere with Michael.

"Ma said to give you this." Brittany almost winced at the harsh and cold tone of voice Covin spoke to her in. All the interactions between mother and son had been less than friendly as of late and that was hard for Brittany to accept. The decision had hit Covin hard and that was clear for all to see, the 11 year old had never gotten in so much trouble in his life. He had been called in almost every week for getting into scraps with the others boys on the yard and had more detentions that he could count. Teachers described him as "difficult" and nothing like the happy, bright young student he was always been. He was angry all of the time and according to him, it was all Brittany's fault.

Before Covin handed his mother the papers, he glanced down at them for the very first time and his persona crumbled. Scanning the page for key words, he found the following; California State, Covin Lopez-Pierce, Asher Lopez-Pierce and the last word that hurt the most, "Divorce." He slammed the papers on the kitchen counter and headed upstairs.

* * *

"Boys! Come on, hurry up or you're going to be late." Michael's voice echoed through the house. Covin wanted to take as long as possible...just to piss of Michael, but then his blonde little brother pounced in from the garden and dragged him to the front door.

If you knew the boys, it would have been very difficult to know that they were brothers purely because of the outstanding differences between them. In looks, it wasn't so much the case. Despite their different hair colour, the boys both shared smouldering brown eyes, had adorable button noses and overly puffy lips that any model would be delighted to posses. The sperm donor was Sam Evans. When the girls were both 21, they had decided to have baby. Although it may have seemed young, both women felt that it was right. Santana had just managed to convince several large store outlets to host her brand new packaging methods and it was slowly being implicated into various stores. An opportunity arrived for her to head out to California and become District Manager of over 1,000+ stores in the state. She always had an interest in Business and although it was tough getting into it, especially without a degree. Hard work and determination saw her through and she bagged her dream jobs with a very healthy salary.

Brittany was drifting between small part time jobs and jumped at the opportunity to head to California. She met a similarly minded dancer and the pair began coaching world class dancers of every field. Sam Evans had agreed to father the child at the young age due to the fact that he had stayed close to the girls he once used to date. Sharing a few similar features to the blonde woman also helped, Sam was over the moon to be asked but decided that he wouldn't take an active role as father and he would let the woman decide that themselves. He managed to break into professional sport and moved down to Wisconsin to further.

To everybody's surprise, it was Santana who carried their first child. And as agreed, after little Covin was brought into the world, Sam signed over his rights as father and had nothing more lawfully to do with the baby. He did visit every month for a while but it was purely out of friendship. It didn't last long however, and once his move happened, it stopped altogether. They still stayed in contact via Skype and other social media sites, but the face to face meetings became less frequent. Nevertheless, when the Lopez-Pierces indicated that they were thinking of a second child 3 years later, Sam once again offered out his man parts because he thought it would be nice for the boys to be biologically related and have the same father. Brittany and Santana agreed and went ahead with the planning. Since Santana had carried and was biologically related to Covin, Brittany wanted to take the next turn and give Santana a break. But after several hospital meetings, they were devastated to learn that Brittany was unable to produce children of her own. Brittany had PCOS which meant that her ovaries found it difficult to produce an egg. Although doctors told them that it could be possible for her to have a biological child of her own, it would be significantly tougher. They were heartbroken, but Brittany refused to let it damper her spirit or desire for a second child. So Sam was flown in and the baby making process began once more. With _Santana_ producing a second wonderfully healthy baby.

Eventually, after much kicking and screaming...from Covin that is, both boys climbed into the back of the car and Michael took them the short distance to school before heading off to his place of work. A now a very angry Brittany raced over to her mobile sitting peacefully on the kitchen table and fiercely pounded the number she had memorized by heart on the screen.

"You didn't sign it." Brittany yelled down the device. Santana sighed, although had been expecting that call ever since she dropped the boys off 10 minutes ago, it had taken longer than she had expected.

* * *

**Hey guys! It's back and I've made a few changes! So, pre-warning that this is not the story you remember before. There will be some differences, both small and major. However, the basic story line will be the same. _The never ending quest to get Brittana back on track_ that is. I didn't handle the last version particularly well I know! It won't happen again :) I was disappointed by the previous version and I know a whole bunch of you were too, so I apologise profusely for that. And please, don't allow me to let the quality get that low again! If I'm slacking or the story is starting to suck; don't be afraid to let me know how much you hate it/me. Tell me what you'd like to see and I'll try my best to incorporate it to the plot I already have planned in my mind!**

**REVIEW.**


	2. Chapter 2

"You're damn right I didn't sign in." Santana shot back in anger. She had been sitting by the phone at the office since she arrived and patiently waiting for an angry Brittany to call and the woman did just that. On the second ring, Santana answered. "Just because you want the easy way out that doesn't mean I do too."

"The easy way? You think this is _easy_ Santana?" Brittany asked in disbelief. Santana seemed to think that she were a heartless bitch who dropped her like a hot potato and relished in the other woman's defeats. Was it true? Well that depended on who you asked of course.

"Well you're taking it pretty well so yeah."

"Look, I'm not sitting around pouting like you because I found somebody, who unlike you, isn't an ass and-" Brittany was about to enter into a huge speech about how Michael was somebody who she connected with on a different level to Santana, not necessarily _better_...but different and sometimes change can be a good thing right?

"_Mike_? What? You're talking about _Mike_?" Santana scoffed, "Mike is the biggest ass I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. " _What did she see in him?_ "He's more concerned with his World of Warcraft than you. He looks like Steve Buscemi's less attractive nephew." She internally sighed at her weak insults because the reality was that she disliked the man to the point where she could barely think whenever even the mention of his name came up.

"Whatever Santana. This isn't about him, this is about you and I." Brittany disregarded Santana's comments with ease. She knew Santana couldn't stand the guy and she didn't blame her for it, but sometimes she wished that she'd back off a little. Michael was a part of her life and her _soon-to-be_ ex wife needed to accept that.

"And the guy you were _fucking_ whilst we were together." Santana hissed down the line with such venom that it practically melted the phone she were holding and the one on the other end. Brittany winced at the tone. "Do you seriously think that's ok?"

"Ok?" Brittany could feel herself begin to get angry and for the first time, she was glad the boys were out because she was pretty sure it was going to get real ugly, real quickly. Instead of yelling, she did what she always did when she got angry. She lowered her phone and began speaking clearer and much deeper than usual in a menacing tone that showed she definitely wasn't messing around. "_Don't_." She warned. "Don't _ever_ try to play the moral game with me Santana. You were no saint yourself."

"No? But I didn't fuck somebody else Britt." Santana snarled. In the times they got angry, the routine was always the same. Santana would get increasingly wound up and her voice would raise with each word, her insults would become much worse and most sentences contained a swear word of some kind. Whilst Brittany did the opposite. Her sentences wouldn't be short and bitter, they would be long and meaningful because she would always do her best not to shout at somebody because of a mistake- she tried to explain to them what that mistake was. Swear words were a rare occurrence, but anybody who said that Brittany was stupid obviously had never seen her truly angry because the reality was that the woman was anything but. Alright, so in High School she wasn't familiar with big words..but things had changed!

"You know what?" She replied sadly before continuing. "I would have preferred it if you _did_, because what you did was worse. I'd rather you _fuck_ everything with a pulse because then at least I'd know where you were, who you were with and what you were doing!" Brittany's pain was shown in the form of the water rushing to her eyes. Each word she said hurt because it was entirely true and she had waited for so long to say it that when it was spoken ,there was a mixture of relief but a whole lot of hurt at the memories that came with it. "I was _terrified_ Santana. All you did was drink, you took drugs and you spent _every_ penny we had . And your bright idea to get it all back was to spend even more in those stupid gambling stores!"

Living with Santana in the weeks leading to their split was a nightmare. Puck had recently moved back from Michigan after being discharged from the Army. He had been in the forces for 12 years before he called it quits thinking he wanted to find a nice girl and settle down. However, he quickly discovered that Army life was all he truly knew and the adjustment was tough..so he turned to alcohol and he dragged _Santana_ down with him. Despite Brittany's desperate pleas for her to avoid Puck for a while and focus on the life she had including herself and the boys- Santana ignored them and did as she pleased which at that point happened to be a hell of a lot of beer and drugs.

"You were _scared_ of me?" Santana's heart dropped for a second. The last thing she ever wanted was for her own family to be afraid of her. They were her whole life and although she had a difficult time showing it due to her alcohol and drug use...that didn't mean it wasn't true. And it didn't mean that she was a violent thug who would beat her children and wife in a drunken rage. "You think I'd hurt you? You think I'd ever hurt you or the boys?" Santana scoffed. She wasn't hurt anymore, she was just downright angry at what Brittany had said. "What the fuck Britt? What kind of person do you think I am!"

"I didn't think you'd hurt us. I know you didn't want too, but you did. Not _physically_. But you hurt us. We were all terrified Santana! How could you not see it?" Brittany knew that Santana actually probably didn't remember that much because half of the time she was never sober enough to remember her own name so she could never entirely understand what it was like for them. She took a deep, shaky breath before continuing. "I thought...I thought that you were going to _die_. Do you know how that feels? All those times you'd wander home at God only knows what time after doing God only knows what?! Do you know..do you know how I _often_ I'd stay up, just to watch your chest go up and down because I was _terrified_, that each breath would be your _last_. You didn't lose me to Mike. I lost _you.._ to _yourself_.. and Mike was there for me."

Santana had never actually stopped and thought about what her previous lifestyle had done to her family, and by the time she even remotely got wind of it, it was too late because Brittany had taken the boys and started divorce procedures. Still, she wasn't that bad! No way. Brittany was exaggerating..._right? _Wrong. It was difficult for Brittney to put her fear and anger into words because no amount of meaningless letters could fully express her feelings and experiences that Santana forced her own family through.

After a deep breath, Santana spoke on. "I'm not signing the papers Brittany." And that was the last sentence the woman on the other end heard before the loud shrieking on the dialling tone.

Brittany had so much anger towards her hopefully soon to be ex wife that she almost felt the phone crumble in her hand from the amount of anger pressure she applied to the plastic device. They didn't even have the chance to talk about Covin. Sweet and innocent Covin who had lately been acting like neither of those things. Both Santana and Brittany knew that he wasn't taking the break up well, he took every chance he could get at taking a dig at Michael and how he'd try to avoid staying with Brittany and Michael at every opportunity, and even when he didn't have the opportunity! Last time Santana dropped off the oldest boy, he beat her back to the house where she found him sat on the sofa with a can of soda. Needless to say she marched him right back down to his Mother's house and practically chained him inside, stressing how important it was that he spent quality time with Brittany and getting used to the new change. Things hadn't been like that though and in fact they had gotten worse. His runaways became more frequent and the times he actually stayed in school long enough to be noticed were the times when he'd get in trouble for starting fights. In his defence having two mothers was tough when all the other kids _don't_. Sure some had a mother and a step mother, but that was different! It was to them anyway. So Covin had to be that tough kid that would start trouble before trouble found him, or worse..._found Asher. _Mrs. Wright even personally called Brittany last Friday to arrange a meeting afterschool the following Monday, today.

And since Santana apparently didn't want to hear about it, she wasn't going too. Brittany was _more_ than capable of handling her son.

* * *

**Long time no update I know! School is hectic lately, but I've got a free week so I'll try to update whatever I can. I've altered the story so it's not so much Brittany bashing. I've tried to level the playing fields a little and actually give Brittany a break so let me know how you're feeling about that. On a side note, how great is Netflix?! Probably my greatest obsession right now so if you guys let me know what you think and what you'd like to see, I'll try to tear myself away from the wonders of £5.99 a month._ American Horror Story is perfect_. So yeah, REVIEW guys :)**

_(I've pretty much got the next chapter done and that should be up soon, possibly tomorrow afternoon? Holding off until I sense what you guys are rooting for so I can go ahead and put up the next chapter completely unchanged anyway because this is **my** fucking story. Just kidding guys!...no i'm not)_


	3. Chapter 3

The day passed fairly quickly and Brittany was on point at 3:00pm outside the head teachers office although getting there was a little difficult. Covin had been informed of the meeting in the car by Michael which immediately meant he was opposed to the idea despite the man not even being there, so he had to be dragged there kicking and screaming by a rather ticked off looking blonde.

"Aah Mrs. Lopez-Pierce, it's nice to see you." Mrs. Wright smiled at Brittany as she opened the door before stepping back and allowing her inside.

"It's Ms. Pierce," she corrected politely. Mrs. Wright merely nodded in acknowledgement but didn't miss Covin's eye roll and tut and she did so. Brittany told him in no uncertain terms that he was to wait right there in the pale red seat and not to move a muscle, although even as she spoke she could see him scanning the hallway for things to do the second the door closed.

The office was a typically decorated one although it was a little bit of an eye sore since everything was simply in different shades of brown. Brittany made a mental note of how it looked as it was her first time there and she was sure it wouldn't be the last, she liked getting familiar with soon to be familiar settings.

Mrs. Wright was a middle aged woman much older than Brittany, she was easily in her late 50's and her black bob seemed to be glued to her face, not even the fan in the corner of the room could blow it out of position. Brittany eyed her up and down and was a little taken aback by how thin she was. Her harsh looking skin texture that glowed a mild light brown did nothing to cover the bones that stuck awkwardly out of her body in seemingly inhuman angles.

"Mrs. Wright, I am-" Brittany began after taking the cramped dark brown chair she was offered and waited for Mrs. Wright to take her own, much higher than hers that made her feel as though she were the one in trouble, and maybe she was.

"Call me Kim." The other woman insisted. Brittany nodded and started again.

"Mrs. Wri-...Kim," she corrected, "I don't know what's going on with Covin. I think he's just going through a difficult spell right now. It's a phase I'm sure, and I'm sure it'll pass! Just that mild teenage rebellion stage."

"I would accept that story, but Covin is eleven years old." Her tone was firm and unforgiving and it became apparent to Brittany that she wasn't going to be able to get away with much in this situation. "This is not normal behaviour for a young boy, not of his age anyway. His grades are falling, he barely speaks, his attendance is poor and on top of all that, we've had," Kim stopped her rant and moved some papers around on her desk before finding what she wanted, "19 complaints about him this week from concerned teachers! I find this to be completely unacceptable. We will not tolerate this. Not at my school Ms. Pierce an-"

Brittany took a leap of faith and interrupted the mean looking woman mid sentence. "19?" she repeated in disbelief. "Covin is a good kid. He is! He's just a little out of character lately..I'm sure you're aware," The whole town was, "about the problems we've been having at home and i-"

"I have heard and I think that's partly the problem. Let me read you something," Kim picked up a second piece of paper and cleared her throat in preparation before Brittany interrupted her again.

"He's not a bad kid, I mean, sure he's had some troubles but it's ju-"

"Ms. Pierce" Kim's interruption was firm and was al but a yell to stop the troubled boys mother from speaking. "Please. Covin is a bad influence, he constantly disruptes the class and pulls others into his poor behaviour, October 25th," she read from a sheet before flipping the page. "Covin failed when asked several times to abandon his conversation. He screamed at Tommy and threatened him with violence. October 26th." She moved her eyes further down the page and started again. "Covin used foul language and when I told him to stop, he refused and used more vulgar language this time aimed at myself. I find him difficult to teach and welcome the day I no longer have to. October 26th."

Brittany sat in disbelief and she listened to all the reports and complains filed about her pride and joy. Covin really wasn't a bad kid and Brittany would gladly fight to the death with anybody who said otherwise!

"Covin's mother and I are going through a difficult time right now. We're trying to resolve it as quickly as we can, and I..i think that's the reason for Covin's behaviour."

"I believe the exact same thing Ms. Pierce. I don't mean to pry and I'm aware that it's none of my business- but it is correct that your new partner...is a man?"

Brittany thought for a second about whether or not she should respond because the woman was exactly right, it was none of her business. In the end, she settled for a subtle nod.

"Excellent!" beamed in delight, "Then I'm sure the trouble will end soon!" Brittany was more than a little confused, less than a minute ago she was all but calling her a poor parent and then she praised her?

"I'm sorry?" Brittany asked.

"I firmly believe that every child need a father. And since Covin will now be able to get what he has missed out on an-"

"Excuse me?" Brittany was horrified at the response from the woman. "My-...our son hasn't missed on out a damn thing!" She spoke in disbelief. "Father or no father, Covin has always been a good child regardless of male influence. I don't know what your family is like Mrs. Wright nor do I want to, but I would much prefer my child to have 2 parents that love him more than anything else in the world than a father who doesn't give a damn. So with all due respect Mrs. Wright, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. My sons behaviour is our problem and my wife and I will deal with it as we see fit." Brittany refused to sit in the office for a second longer and immediately jumped out of the awkward brown sofa and gathered her things. She was tired of people thinking that Covin was a underprivileged child because he didn't have a father. The boy was more than privileged because he had 2 loving parents, which is more than some, poor unfortunate kids can say. Brittany never spoke like that and not to people in authority and certainly not when her sons education was concerned, but she'd have happily moved him to a different school if that was needed, providing she got her point across that she and Santana were more than able to raise and punish their child when needed, even if they were going through problems, both of them were aware that the boys always came first.

The head teacher made no attempt to stop Brittany from leaving and even jumped up to open the door for her as she left.

The second Brittany was outside the office she noticed that Covin wasn't. Another runaway attempt was the last thing she needed whilst she was trying to prove that she was a wonderful parent. She called out to the empty corridor for the boy to come as it was time to leave and of course there was no reply. His backpack along with his blue baseball cap where gone.

Brittany turned to see an 'I told you so' smirk plastered on Mrs. Wright's face and the woman seemed to take huge delight in wishing Brittany luck in finding the boy.

In her panic, Brittany immediately pulled out her phone and dialled the young boys number. He had been given a cell phone last summer by Santana after he fell out of his friend Kevin's tree house whilst his parents were out and had to wait 2 hours with a broken arm until they returned home so they could phone Brittany to let her know that it would be advisable for Covin to get his arm inspected. After 3 rings, her call went to voicemail and she instantly knew that Covin had hit the reject button. Her second choice was to call Santana, who answered on the second ring.

Brittany left the school building via the windy hallways without saying another word in front of the woman who had tried to tell her that her family wasn't right.

"He's gone? What do you mean he's gone? Where has he gone?!" Santana yelled down the phone.

"I don't know! I had a meeting with the principle and I told him, I told him to wait right outside the door and not to move and guess what he did?"

"You lost our son?!" Santana asked in horror, "How can you lose our son? God damn it I-...wait, what meeting?"

"Mrs. Wright called me last week and asked to see Covin's guardians. Anyway, that's not important. What's more important is our son is gone." Brittany sobbed down the line.

"And you didn't tell me? Do you not think that I should know about these things?" Santana was furious that Brittany didn't tell her! She was his mother and had every right to know what was going on with the troubled youth.

"I'm sorry Santana. I know I should have told you, but I didn't. I was going to tell you this morning but-"

"But I hung up. Right. Is he in the car? Is Covin in the car?"

"I didn't bring the car! I walked down here to pick him up. I'm outside the school and I can't see him anywhere Santana. Oh god. Oh my god I can't find him!" Brittany was about to have a panic attack and Santana knew it. The woman was frantically running around the immediate area but the little brunette was nowhere to be seen. Brittany's breath was shaky, her heart began to pound more intensely with every inhale and her head was spinning.

"Okay Britt, just calm down. Calm down alright? Breathe. We're gonna find him and he's gonna be fine. Just wait..wait there and I'll come pick you up." Santana hung up immediately and raced to her car keys.

Brittany did as she was told and waited..near enough as to where she was before. She had screamed out Covin's name so loud that her throat was beginning to hurt but still he wasn't in sight. There was nobody around and that freaked her out even more. If he had been taken, then there'd be no witnesses, nobody to see who had taken him or what direction they had gone. Covin could have disappear from the face of the earth and it would have been _her_ fault.

* * *

A journey that would have usually taken at least 15 minutes only took Santana 7 this time around. Was it because she ran so many stop signs and ignored all those red lights? Yes, probably. Still, the police hadn't pulled her over and she managed to stop the car just outside the gate and called out for Brittany out the window and within seconds, Brittany had jumped into shotgun position and told Santana to drive.

Santana tried to keep Brittany calm by talking about the X Factor and American Idol and it worked for a little while..until Brittany realised what Santana was doing.

"Wha-...what are you doing?! Don't try to distract me Santana! Our son is gone and you want to talk about American Idol? How are you so calm?!"

"Alright hang on. I'll pull over and call him but I'm pretty sure I already know where he is." Santana ptulled up onto the nearest curb and pulled out her cell phone to call Covin. He answered on the 5th ring and Brittany sat beside her looking puzzled.

"Hey Mami!" The boy sung happily.

"Don't you "Hey Mami" me you little punk. Where are you?!" Santana put on her parental voice and Covin gupled.

"I'm...I'm at home. With Mom?" He said it as more of a question and Santana gripped the bridge of her nose.

"Covin, don't try to pull that with me. You're not with your Mom because _I_ am with your Mom."

"You are?" The boy replied happily. He desperately hoped that the next words were going to be _and we're getting back together _but of course, it wouldn't be.

"Yes because she called me almost in tears and informed you that you pulled another one of your stunts. So I'm going to ask you _one_ more time, where are you?" Santana's voice was firm and the boy knew she wasn't messing around.

"I would tell you...but then you'll come get me and I'll have to go back with Mom and _Mike._"

"Yes Covin, that's exactly what's going to happen because you're the child and you'll do as your Mom and I damn well say. You don't have to tell me where you are because I already know and I'm coming to get you."

"What? No! No Mami. Wait..don't be mad okay plea-"

"Too late Covin. I'm coming." Santana hung up and put her mobile back into her bag. Santana turned to see a sobbing Brittany and asked her what the problem was.

"He didn't answer when _I _called. He rejected it." Brittany sobbed softly.

"Hey," Santana leaned across and put her hand on Brittany's shoulder and began to rub soothingly. "It's not _you_. He's just having a hard time with all of this but give it time and he'll be back to his same old self. We're going to get our son back B," Brittany smiled at the nickname that Santana used to call her all the time because she hadn't used it for months until that moment. Brittany's pale hand grabbed the tanned one on her shoulder and pulled it into her lap as she nodded.

"Yeah, yeah I know." She all but whispered. "It's just.._hard_." Santana smiled at Brittany before pulling her hand away to wipe the last streaming tear from Brittany's face.

"Yeah, I know." She left her palm on Brittany's cheek for moment before quickly pulling her hand away and turning back to face the road. "Now let's go get our son." Santana said in a terrible, almost Arnold Schwarzenegger like voice that made Brittany laugh hysterically.

Santana pulled up into suburban neighbourhood about 10 minutes away from Covin's school and around half hour away from Michael's house. She drove along the car filled residential street until she found the number 23 house she was looking for, pulled up into the drive and turned off the engine before she unbuckled her seat belt. Brittany gave her a puzzled look but nodded reluctantly when Santana asked her to wait in the car.

Santana gently slammed the car door and headed across to the front door. Upon reaching the door, she banged heavily 4 times before a little blonde boy opened the front door, the second her saw her his eyes widened and he tried to close the door again, but Santana stuck her foot in the way and the boy hesitantly opened the door once more.

"Hi Kevin. Is your Mom home?" The young boy nodded quickly and called out for her before he quickly sprinted into the back garden, just as he reached the door leading out into the back yard Santana heard him call out an apology to _somebody_ there and she had a pretty good idea who it was.

Seconds later, Kevin's mother Ashley arrived at the door and smiled when seeing Santana.

"Hey Santana!" She smiled and began to rub something off of her hands into the dirty apron she was wearing and chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry, I was making some cookies for the boys. Come in, come in!"

Santana took up the invitation and headed inside after gesturing to Brittany that she would only be a moment. "That's actually what I came for. Covin is here, _right_?" She asked, following Ashley into the kitchen and taking a seat at the breakfast bar, watching how the younger woman effortlessly guided her way around the room she was so familiar with.

"Yeah. He's been here for about half hour..he and Kevin are playing outside." She returned to the cookie dough on the counter before turning and facing Santana with a giggle. "You didn't know did you?" Santana shook her head. "Oh god, I'm sorry. He told me that Brittany said him it was ok for him to come over. I bet you've been worried out of your minds!"

"At least he's safe." Santana smiled. "Do you mind if I go talk to him?" Ashley smiled and told her to go ahead.

Santana pulled open the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the wooden deck. After scoping out the garden and catching the eye of Kevin, he raced up to her and muttered a quiet apology for not letting her in at first before gently pushing past her and heading inside.

It wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out where Covin was and so Santana began to quickly head in his direction. The climb was tough but she eventually made it and stuck her head into the tree house.

"You promised that you weren't going to go in Kevin's tree house anymore. You broke your arm." Santana stated factually as she climbed her way inside the wooden structure.

"And you promised that you and Mom would be together forever. You got married." Covin shot back without looking up from the playing cards he was setting up on the floor.

"Well..sometimes things happen Covin."

"Yup." He replied bluntly. "Because I'm in Kevin's tree house and you and Mom are getting a divorce."

Santana sat cross legged opposite the young boy and picking up the set of cards he had dealt. The tension that filled the air could have been cut with a knife. It was full of things they both wanted to say but didn't know how to get the words out.

"You want to talk about it?" Santana asked as she rearragned the cards in her hands.

"Nope." Covin shrugged. "Not really much to talk about anymore."

"Covin," Santana cooed in a heartfelt manner. "There's plenty to talk about. We're still a family you know. I love you. Your Mom loves you and Asher loves you. This is a difficult time for all of us and sometimes things happen and it's nobody's fault."

"Well Mom seems to think it's _your_ fault, you think it's _Moms_ fault and I think it's _Michael's_ fault."

"And what does Asher think?" Santana asked curiously.

"He's 7 Mami, he doesn't care whose fault it is as long as he gets brownies." Both Santana and Covin dropped their attitudes for a moment to share in laughter at the truthfulness behind that statement.

"When situations change so do the people involved and the type of love they share does too, and I know you think you understand but you're a _kid_ and you don't. So you need to listen when your Mom and I tell you something. We've never lied to you nor have we ever kept anything from you and we don't plan to. "

"Is that what happened to you and Mom? You guys don't love each other anymore?" Covin asked sadly as he put the cards in a big pile at the corner of the tree house.

Santana looked at him in amazement. He was a boy beyond his years and everything he did amazed her. Both she and Brittany were lucky to have him and they were even luckier to have Asher too. Their plan since high school was that Brittany would be biologically related to all of their children and she would also give birth to them. They thought about one giving birth to the others biological child, but they were devastated to find out that would never happen, not for Brittany at least. Whilst they were exploring their child bearing options, they thought that it would be an open and closed case since they had the luxury of _two_ wombs but Brittany's ovaries were not mature enough to produce eggs and although there was hope in the form of a follicle stimulating hormone injection that could increase her chances of producing an egg, but it was a long and difficult route to take. So for their hope of a family, Brittany abandoned her plans to be the biological mother and they quickly found that surrogacy was an expensive thing! Even if it was only an egg transferred from one partner to another. In the end, it was Santana who gave birth to both boys and both boys were biologically hers but not once did they discuss it after that and the boys never asked. As far as they were concerned, they simply had two mothers and were too sweet and uninformed enough to ask those kinds of questions despite Santana and Brittany agreeing that if the question ever came up that they would answer it honestly.

In terms of the question Covin asked? She couldn't answer. The fact was that she had in no way, shape or form fallen out of love with Brittany and was willing to do anything to get her back. Her days with Puck was stupid and as she looked back, she found it difficult to remember why she even agreed to go along to his midnight pub crawls and get involved in the bar brawls he would start. Puck had been her best friend since high school and former boyfriend of course, but they didn't talk about those dark times, and when he was in trouble he went straight to her. The trouble was that she dropped everything in order to help including the times she was supposed to take Asher to soccer practice or be at those family barbeques in the summer. She thought that once she helped Puck get back on his feet, she'd have plenty of time for family and the boys would be able to meet Uncle Puck and he could take them to football games that neither Brittany nor Santana were particularly interested in and he could stay over and watch scary movies with him. She had it all planned out, but in the words of John Lennon, "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." And she never expected divorce papers to be in her plan. And now that they were? Well she was going to do her damn best to make them disappear again.

"I don't know." Santana shrugged helplessly. Her family was falling apart in front of her and she didn't know how to fix it, or if it could even _be_ fixed.

"Can we go home now?" Covin asked sadly.

"Sure. Let's go home." Santana smiled as she stood up and offered her son a hand that he quickly took with the same smile as his Mami. "Oh and Covin, do me a favour?"

"What's that Ma?"

"Stop giving your mother a hard time."

He nodded sadly, before an evil smirk came over him. "...What about Mike?" He asked curiously as he began making his way down the tree house ladder.

"Mehhhh," Santana shrugged and Covin laughed so hard he almost fell..._again_. "Covin be careful!" She called out to him. "Both hands. No..no Covin! _Both_ hands! Get your other hand back on that ladder or so help me God I wi-...good boy."

* * *

**That was literally the longest chapter I have ever written for any story..ever! There's super big changes so my basic advice is to forget everything you think you know because it'll probably change! I'm trying to write and update all the stories so I can get those done and move onwards and upwards since I've had a ton of other little project ideas I'd like to get written but I'm determined to finish these first! As always, REVIEW :)**

_And Guest user; I'm not sure what possessed me to update actually! I can't say it was a sudden burst of inspiration because it wasn't. My parents are away and I'm pretty much home alone,so..boredom perhaps? :)_


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